Security-capped containers



July 2, 1968 G. SZEKELY SECURITY-CAPPED CONTAINERS Filed April 7, 1967 FIGH ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,390,799 SECURITY-CAPPED CONTAINERS George Szekely, 3123 Bailey Ave., Bronx, N.Y. 10463 Filed Apr. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 629,185

8 Claims. (Cl. 2159) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The container is closed by a cap screwed onto its neck by use of a spanner until a stop on the cap is in forceful contact with a stop on the container, whereupon a required degree of tightness is attained, which can be verified when a protuberance on the spanner can enter a notch in the container body by a downward sliding movement of the spanner, and when so entered, the cap is locked to the container. The stops serve to avoid overturning of the cap by a force which would make it beyond the capability of an adult of normal strength to unscrew even with the spanner. Each of these stops is the face of the tooth of a one-tooth ratchet formation, which construction offers the stops tremendous strength to withstand the stresses they might be subject to.

The present invention relates to containers such as bottles, cans and the like, fitted with screw-on caps as: their closure means, and more particularly to the type commonly called safety bottles or security-capped containers, especially for pharmaceutical and chemical preparations which may be pills, capsules, powders or liquids.

The principal object of this invention is to provide novel and improved security-capped containers of the kind mentioned, the caps of which require the strength of an adult to remove, thus keeping dangerous and harmful substances non-accessible to young children. In fact, even for an adult, a necessary tool is provided in this invention, to loosen the cap, and he also needs it to properly tighten the cap to a required degree of tightness.

A further object thereof, is to provide that when the cap is screwed on the bottle or other container, the tool which is a spanner, also serves to indicate whether required tightness has been attained, by using it as a gage in the manner of go and no-go. This is necessary because what one person calls tight may be insuflicient to attain the required degree of tightness.

Another object thereof is to provide that at a rest position of the spanner on the cap, the cap will be locked to the container.

Devices of this kind heretofore attempted by others,

have failed to satisfy the requirements of the pharmaceutical, chemical and packaging industries, as to effectiveness, or because of objections to their complexity, their cost of manufacture, their inability to be filled by existing equipment or their non-adaptability to standard containers. Construction for security-capped containers which avoids such faults, is the subject of my pending patent application filed February 7, 1967, under Serial No. 614,433 which includes certain protuberances on the cap and on the container to serve as stops. The present invention is an improvement thereover, and another object of this invention is to provide protuberance structure of great strength as stops, so they can withstand tremendous stress, in order that the structure comprising the gaging means shall never be subject to stress.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide novel and improved security-capped containers having the stated attributes, and which are very reasonable in cost, simple "ice in construction, easily adaptable to be made from existing manufacturing molds with little change, and which are easy for adults to open and close, but for children impossible to open when properly closed, and which are efficient in carrying out the purposes for which they are designed.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this disclosure proceeds.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a bottle, shown partly in section, embodying teachings of this invention, including the tool furnished therewith to close it properly, open it when required and to serve as a gage to indicate when the cap is screwed on with the required degree of tightness.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of said tool which is a spanner of special construction.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of said spanner, in inverted position.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational perspective view of the bottle included in the package of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a section taken at line 5-5 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a section taken at line 66 in FIG. 1, minus the spanner.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the cap included in FIG. 1, shown inverted.

FIG. 8 is a view like FIG. 1, but of a modified construction.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary elevational perspective view of the bottle included in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a section taken at line 10-10 in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a section taken at line 11--11 in FIG. 8, minus the spanner.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the cap included in FIG. 8.

In the drawing, the numeral 15 designates generally a cap with internal threads 16, to be screwed onto the bottle 17, whose neck 18 has the external threads 19 therefor. This cap, on its peripheral Walls exterior, has a heightwise protuberance 2 of preferably rectangular transverse cross section to fit in the notch 21in the inner edge wall of a ring spanner 22, here shown having the diametrically opposite handles 23, 24, for its manipulation. This spanner preferably has two teeth 25, 26, extending downwardly from its undersurface, which will respectively enter and fit the notches 27 and 28 in the periphery of the annular seal offered by the collar or flange 29 around the base .of the neck 18 of the bottle, if the spanner is slid down on the cap when the stop surface 30 on the cap, is in true face-to-face contact with the stop surface 31 on the bottle; said surface 31, being midway between the notches 27, 28. When such face-to-face contact is established, the cap 15 is deemed to have been screwed on with the required degree of tightness, which means that an adult need use the spanner 22 to loosen the cap 15, hence it is certain that no child has sufficient strength to do so. Of course, to loosen the cap 15, the spanner 22 is raised so that its teeth 25, 26 are out of the notches 27, 28, because when said teeth are in them in any slight degree, the cap 15 is locked to the bottle 17. It is evident that the spanner, besides it normal function to tighten and loosen the cap, also serves as a gage in conjunction with said notches 27, 28, to test if the cap is properly tightened. If said teeth will enter said notches, the user will know that the cap is properly secured. If said teeth can not be entered, then the user will know that the cap must be turned more, to be properly closed. This spanner 22 be attempted to be turned while in locked,

position, it is preferred to include the notch 32 in the flange 29, for engagement by the underpad 33 on the handle 24 of the spanner, when said spanner is set in locked position; said notch and pad serving also as gaging means for the purpose aforesaid. The numeral 34 indicates a liner against the ceiling of the cap 15, made of material having extremely slight resiliency, as polyethylene for example. When the cap is properly tightened, it is still spaced from the flange 29, so the liner being pressed against the mouth rim of the bottle, will keep bottle contents air and moisture-proof.

Because of the appreciable force necessary to properly tighten the cap as described herein, the stop structure indicated by the numeral 35 which presents the stop surface 30 on the cap 15, and the stop structure denoted by the numeral 36 which presents the stop surface'31 on the bottle 17, must be very strong, so they will resist the tremendous stress they are subject to when the cap is tightened. It is found that the use of mere teats or the i illustrated in the FIGS. 1-7, and in the modified embodiment shown in the FIGS. 8-12, it is to be noted that except for the particular types of ratchet structures used therein, both said embodiments are otherwise substantially identical. So in FIGS. 8-12, all parts which are identical or nearly so with the parts in FIGS. 17, bear the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1-7, but primed. For example, the cap in the first embodiment is designated by the numeral 15, while in the other, its cap is denoted as The bottle in the first embodiment is designated as 17, while in the second embodiment, the bottle bears the numeral 17, and so on.

The flange 29 on the bottle 17, is fashioned to be a one-tooth ratchet formation 36, whose tooths surface 31 is the stop Wall. The mouth rim of the cap 15, is fashioned to be a one-tooth ratchet formation 35, whose tooths surface is the stop wall, to be intercepted by the said stop wall 31. When the ratchet formations are located as 35 and 36, they are called crown ratchets.

The flange 29' on the bottle 17, is fashioned to have a flat one-tooth ratchet formation 37, whose tooths surface 39 is the stop wall. The mouth of the cap 15', is fashioned to have an internal one-tooth ratchet formation 38, whose tooths surface 40 is the stop wall to be intercepted by the stop wall 39. Here, the ratchet 37 is encircled by the caps peripherial wall, when said stop walls 39 and 40 are in contact.

In FIG. 8, the cap 15 tapers a bit from its mouth. This may prevent the spanner 22 from coming down to rest on the flange 29, but it should allow that the teeth 25 and 26 do enter a bit into the notches 27' and 28' respectively, so that the spanner shall be able to serve as the required gage, and as a lock for the cap 15'.

In practice, it is found that the height of any stop wall is sufiicient if it is So although the rim of the mouth of the cap 15 is an incline, as is the facing surface of the formation 36 .on the bottle, there is hardly more than a slight notice of such appearance which is at variance with true flat as is ordinary. Note that in the construction shown in FIG. 8, there is no variance from normal appearance.

This invention is capable of numerous forms and various applications without departing from the essential fealures herein disclosed. It is therefore intended and desired that the embodiments shown herein shall be deemed 4 f. 1 1 5, merely illustrative and not restrictive and that the patent shall cover all patentable novelty herein setforth; reference being had to the following claims rather than to the specific showings and description herein to indicate the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In combination, a container having an exteriorly threaded neck and anexterior annular part surrounding the base of said neck, an interiorly threaded cap tightly screwed on said neck and closing the container; the degree of tightness being such that the cap cannot be loosened when gripped in hand and attempted to be turned by an adult, a first-one-tooth ratchet formation around the said neck and on said annular part, a second one-tooth ratchet formation around the rim region of the cap, on the cap; the face of the tooth of one of said formations being in contact with the face of the tooth of the other of said formations, and a separate spanner girding the peripheral wall of the cap and provided with a notch at said Wall; said wall having an exterior protuberance along its height; said protuberance being fitted in said notch and the spanner being slidable along said protuberance; said spanner having a tooth extending towards said annular part; such annular part having a notch; said tooth onthe spanner, being slidably fitted in said notch in said annular part, whereby the cap is maintained against rotation in relation to the container, whereupon shifting the spanner along said protuberance until the tooth leaves the said notch, an adult can then turn the spanner and thereby loosen the cap, of which a child is incapable, and upon the tightening of the cap after being loosened or replaced on the container, the tooth on the spanner will be able to enter the notch on said annular part, only when the faces of the teeth of said one-tooth ratchet formations are in contact, whereby the spanner also serves as a gage to determine when the proper degree of tightness is attained.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said formation is of the crown ratchet type.

3. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the formation on the container is a flat ratchet protruding into said cap; the formation on the cap being of the internal ratchet type.

4. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the notch and tooth on the spanner, have one face in commom.

5. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the cap, its protuberance and its ratchet formation, are integral, and wherein the container, said annular part thereon and the ratchet formation thereon, are integral.

6. The combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said annular part seats the spanner when the tooth of the spanner is entered in the notch in said annular part.

7. The combination as defined in claim 1, including means on the cap, for halting movement of the spanner towards said annular part when the tooth of the spanner has entered the notch in said annular part.

8. In combination, a container having an exteriorly threaded neck and an exterior annular part surrounding the base of saidneck, an interiorly threaded cap tightly screwed on said neck and closing the container; the degree of tightness being such that the cap cannot be loosened when gripped in hand and attempted to be turned by an adult, :1 first protuberance on said annular part, a onetooth ratchet formation around the rim region of the cap, on the cap; the face of the tooth of said formation being in contact with said first protuberance which is a stop therefor, a separate spanner girding the peripheral wall of the cap and provided with a notch at said wall; said wall having an exterior second protuberance along its height; said second protuberance being fitted in said notch and the spanner being slidable along said second protuberance; an adult being capable of turning the spanner and thereby loosen the cap, of which a child is incapable; wherein said spanner having a tooth extending towards said annular part and said annular part having a notch; said tooth on the spanner being slidably fitted in said notch in said annular part, whereby the cap is maintained against rotation in relation to the container, whereupon shifting the spanner along the second protuberance until the tooth in said notch leaves said notch, an adult can then turn the spanner and thereby loosen the cap, and upon tightening of the cap after being loosened or replaced on the container, the tooth on the spanner will be able to enter the notch in said annular part, only when the face of the tooth of said one tooth ratchet formation is in contact with the first protuberance, whereby the spanner also serves as a gage to determine when the proper degree of tightness is attained.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Putman 151-54 DArden 15154 ODonnell 2l5--9 Brune 21542 Thomas 215-37 Thornton 2159 Sharp 2159 Jessop 215-9 JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

R. PESHOCK, Assistant Examiner. 

